Cape Cod for Teachers

Introduction

The Cape Cod project in this curriculum packet asks students to consider
the following Focus Question: Cape Cod has a serious problem with its
ground water. During more than six decades, the activities at the
Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) - formerly known as Camp
Edwards, then Otis Air Force Base - on the Upper Cape have resulted in
contamination of billions of gallons of underground water. (The Upper
Cape is the western part of Cape Cod, including the following towns:
Bourne, Sandwich, Barnstable, Mashpee, and Falmouth.)

You and your group are members of a blue-ribbon panel that has been formed
to present a plan for providing safe, drinkable water to the Upper Cape
for the next 10 years. You know of the contamination problem with the
underground water supply. You also know how many Cape Cod residents
will require water; your panel has been given data that describe the
predicted increase in the region's population. Now, you and the members
of your panel must figure out how the Upper Cape will meet its need for
safe ground water in spite of the vulnerability of its water supply to
contamination.
To develop an answer to this complex question, students will:

discover how hydrogeologists gather data to describe the composition and movement of contaminated ground-water plumes.

At the end of this project, students should produce a presentation or
paper to share with the class. Their presentation will discuss what
they believe will be western Cape Cod's ground-water needs for the next
decade, how well the existing water supply will meet those needs, and
what other sources of uncontaminated ground water exist. Students will
use what they have learned about how geology, water use, and wastewater
disposal interact to develop a water-use plan. They will support their
plan for supplying the area with safe, drinkable water with the
information they received in the Student Packet, their understanding of
the availability of ground water and human responsibility for
maintaining its quality, and the lessons they learned as they completed
the three activities in this packet.

An excerpt from Seth Rolbein's book, "The Enemy Within: The Strug-gle to
Clean Up Cape Cod's Military Superfund Site," is included to
demonstrate to your students that these environmental problems involve
real people and real concerns. It is reprinted here with the permission
of the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod, a local
environmental organization, and does not imply an endorsement of
Rolbein's book by the U.S. Geological Survey.